Personal Best (1982)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Robert Towne

Writer:

Robert Towne (writer)

Release Date:

26 May 1983 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Plot:

The intertwined lives and loves of three highly-ranked athletes striving for the national team; Chris...

Plot Keywords:

Lesbianism | Running | Lesbian Athlete | Drugs | Injury

Cast

Mariel Hemingway	...	Chris Cahill
Scott Glenn	...	Terry Tingloff
Patrice Donnelly	...	Tory Skinner
Kenny Moore	...	Denny Stites
Jim Moody	...	Roscoe Travis
Kari G. Peyton	...	Penny Brill (as Kari Gosswiller)
Jodi Anderson	...	Nadia 'Pooch' Anderson
Maren Seidler	...	Tanya
Martha Watson	...	Sheila
Emily Dole	...	Maureen
Pam Spencer	...	Jan
Deby Laplante	...	Trish
Mitzi McMillin	...	Laura
Jan Glotzer	...	Karen
Jan Van Reenen	...	Yelovitch

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:R | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

1305 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, California, USA

Company:

Geffen Company, The

Trivia:

While in post production, the sound engineers could not quite capture the sound they needed to simulate when a runner's foot hit the track during a race. They finally created the right sound by taking pieces of bundled audio tape and hitting the floor of the sound booth with the tape bundles.

Quotes:

Terry Tingloff: The high jump is a masochists event-it always ends on failure.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "American Dad!: All About Steve (#1.10)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES

Hemingway matures in the course of this film--and as an actress takes some risks

There's a beautiful opening shot in this film (a lone spot of sweat on the cement as the camera pans slowly upwards to Mariel Hemingway's tense profile as she prepares for a race) but, soon afterward, the actress opens her mouth and out comes this little girl voice with a puny range. It's only natural to think this is going to be a tough role for Hemingway to pull off, but I believe she has done it. Gay-themed dramas are always something of a risk for the actors involved, yet Hemingway takes her sprinting character from naive mouse to sexy girlfriend to adult in the course of "Personal Best" and becomes a better, stronger actress in the process. Although an excessively barbed film with two gratuitous sub-plots (both involving men: a manipulative coach and an eleventh-hour boyfriend for Mariel), the picture has great '70s atmosphere, good race scenes, some funny, raunchy humor, and it takes a focused look at two women in love (lesbian lover Patrice Donnelly is a very moody cuss, but that's certainly no reason to drag in the boyfriend, which is where the movie starts hedging its bets). Two-hours-plus of Mariel Hemingway may sound like too much, but she's very good here. She carries most of this film on her shoulders and pulls off some very tricky sequences. This was her own 'personal best'. **1/2 from ****